Delivery mechanism for printing-presses.



W. B. STORY.

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPUCATION FILED APR- 22, 1913. 1,252,856. Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

5 SHEETSSHEET lmam/an cu ma: R

\ I I entor A tlorneyl.

W. B. STORY.

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 22. um.

1,252,856. Patented Jan. 8,1918.

5 SHEETS$HEET 2- W'itnesses {inventor A ttorneya.

W. B. STORY.

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED APR- 22. I913.

1 ,252,856 Patelited Jan. 8, 1918.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3- A ttomeyl.

W. B. STORY.

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 22. H3. 1,252,856.

Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

5 SHEETSSHEET 4- MID A ttorncyr.

W. B. STORY.

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 22, 1913- 1,252,856. Patented Jan. 8,1918.

5 SHEETSSHEET 5- W' nesses A ttomeya.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WARD B. STORY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR '10 WARD B. STORY COMPANY, INC., 01 NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING-PRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. s, 1918.

Application filed April 22,1913. Serial No. 762,783.-

' and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Delivery Mechanism for Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification.

his invention relates to delivery mechanism for rinting presses, using sheets. The objects 0 the invention are:

' First to combine the various instrumentalities within a single frame, so that the pile feeder and pile receiver may be adJacent to one another, and can be attended by a single operator, and so that the pile on the receiver may be quickly transferred to a pile feeder for passing the sheets through the press for the purpose of obtaining a second impression.

Second: to-produce a perfect transfer of the sheets from the transfer cylinder to the receiver, holding the sheets always within control. I

Third: to deposit the sheets within the receiver in such a manner that they will always be in proper position.

Fourth: to make the apparatus adjustable for different widths of sheets.

These and further objects will more fully appear from the followlng Specification and accompanying drawings, considered together or separately.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a printing press, showing one embodiment of the inventionapplied toit.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the front andback delivery belts, with the appurtenant mechanism, the twobelts being shown separated by a wider interval than in the actual machine, so that the details will be more clearly brought out.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same, the nearer track being removed for clearness of illustration.

Fig. 5 is a view in section, of the rear end of the front belt, and thefront end of the rear belt, showing the supporting cagings for the ends of the tracks. the section being taken on the line 5- of Fig. 10.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the parts shown in Fig. 5, the section being taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of one per carriages.

8 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 9 is a front elevation of the same; and

Fig. 10 is a plan View of the parts shown of the grip- .in Fig. 5, with the addition of the side shifting devices.

In all of the views, like parts are designated by the same reference characters.

Referring to Figs. land 2, the frame 1 carries the usual printing couple, comprislng a type cylinder and impression cylinder,

together with the transfer cylinder, all ar-' ranged in the usual manner. a

The sheets to be printed are carried upon a pile feeder 2, or other support. From there they are fed by-the' usual mechanism to the gaging and alining mechanism, comprising a system of drop rollers, 3, which may be similar to those shown in my copending application for patent, filed June 20, 1912, Serial No. L707. From the gaging and alining devices, the sheets go to the printing couple, and thence to the transfer cylinder.

From the transfer cvlinder, the sheets go on top of the forwarding belts 4, to nearly the rear end of the frame. Just before they reach the pile receiver 5 they are received by the rear belts 6, andvare deposited within the receiver. The belts 4 are sufficiently long so that the ink on the sheets will have time to dry before the sheets are transferred to the belts 6, 6. The receiver when filled may be transferred to the position occupied by the pile feeder 2, if a second impression is necessary, and the sheets may then be run through the press a second time, as will be described in this specification.

The transfer cylinder is provided with grippers 7 (Fig. 4), which close upon the edge of the sheet, and hold it in proper position. Any form of gripper may be employed, but I prefer to. use that illustrated in my co-pending application for patent, filed October 1, 1912, Serial No. 723,319. The belts are also provided with grippers,

'Those on the forwarding belts 4 receive the sheet just as it is released by the grippers 7, and carry the sheet upon the upper side of the belts, at a high rate of speed, practicall equal to the eripheral speed of the trans er cylinder. mm the top of the forward belts, the sheets are transferred to the lower side of the rear belts. These rear belts have grippers which act to grasp the forward edge of the sheet, at the moment the grippers on the forwarding belts release it. The sheets are drawn by means of the grippers on the rear belts to a osition 1mmediately above the pile recelver 5, into which they are allowed to drop by the releasing of the rippers at the moment the sheets are imme iately' above the receiver. In order to insure the transfer of the sheets from the top of the forward belts to the bottom of the rear belts, without shock, and to insure the proper arresting of motion, when they are in proper position above the receiver, the rear belts are moved by means of mechanism which gives them an intermittent and (gradual acceleration and retardation of.

spec When the grippers, arrive at the place where they will engagewith the sheet to receive it from the forward belts, the are moving at the same speed as these elts. The speed of the belts will be gradually decreased before the sheet is immediately above the pile receiver, when the grippers will come practically to a standstill, and the sheet being released will fall upon the receiver without forward motion. The grippers will then move forward, with accelerating motion, so that they will again come adjacent to the forward belts, at the place where the next set of grippers on these belts have the next sheet ready for'transfer to the rear belts. In practice, I find it necessary, for constructural reasons, to have the grippers partake of a somewhat more complicated series of movements, but the ultimate result is the same as above described.

The belts 4 are carried upon pulleys 8 and 9, best shown in Fig. 4. The pulleys 8 are supported upon a shaft 10, and the pulleys 9 are carried upon a shaft 11. These shafts are carried in proper bearings in-the frame 1. The shaft 10 is rotated by means of a toothed pinion 12 (see Fig. 2), which meshes with a gear wheel 13, carried upon the transfer cylinder shaft. The shaft 11 is rotated by means of the belts 4., These belts are best made of metalyso that they will not stretch. Each is provided with blocks 14 on the inner face, such blocks being regularly spaced, so

It is to be understood that the pulley's do not turn upon the shafts. The rear belts 6, (i are supported upon pulleys 16 and 17, carried res eetively upon shafts 18 and 19.

These be ts 6, 6 have the same blocks 14, which enter the same kind of notches 15, in the ulleys, so as to prevent slip ing.

T e mechanism for driving tie shaft 18, and with it the pulleys 16, belts 6, 6 and ulleys 17, and shaft 19, with a continuously, lint intermittent fast and slow movement, is as follows: This mechanism is best shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The shaft 20, which is driven by means of the gears 21, from the type cylinder shaft, may be the shaft 17, illustrated in my co-pending application for patent, Serial No. 704,707, before referred to. Any shaft, or other mechanism, moving in sequence with the printing couple, may be employed. This shaft is rotated at constant speed by means of the gears 21. It carries a bevel gear 22, which engages and drives a second bevel gear 23 on a short shaft, which also carries a pinion 24. This pinion engages with and rotates a large gear wheel 25, which carries on the same shaft, a pinion 26. This pinion engages with and drives a large ear wheel 27. This latter gear wheel carries on its face a pin or pins 28. Four are illustrated. These pins engage successively within notches 29 in a gear ,v-heel 30. This latter gear-wheel engages with and rotates a pinion 31, which is mounted on the same shaft as a bevel gear wheel 32. This last gear wheel engages with and drives a bevel pinion 33, carried upon a longitudinal shaft 34. The other end of the shaft carries a spiral gear 35, which meshes with and drives a spiral gear 36, carried on the projecting end of the shaft 18.

From the foregoing description, it is apparent that the gear wheel 25 is continuously rotated, and the pins 28, successively engaging with the slots 29, will continuously rotate the gear wheel 30 at a gradually increasing and gradually diminishing speed, caused by the pins sliding within the slots toward and awayfrom the center of the gear wheel 32. The shaft 18 will therefore be continuously rotated, but the speed of rotation will be'alternately and gradually accelerated and diminished. The parts are so proportioned that a quarter revolution of the ar wheel 30 will result in a number of revo utions of the shaft 18, enou h to cause the grippers on thebelts 6 to ma 0 one-half of one complete passage.

This mechanism thus described effectively causes the grippers on the belts '6 to be retarded at some place between the point Where they engagewith the sheet on the belts 4 and the point where the sheet is deposited upon the sheet receiver. In the embodiment 0110561 for illustration, there are two gripmoving in the opposite direction, and is undergoing the same changes in speed. By

this mechanism, it is poss ble to secure the same actual movement of the grippers on the belts 6, 6 as that of the grippers on the belts 4, 4, so that the grippers on both belts will cross at the same time and place to transfer the sheet. 7

I" will now describe the grippers 37 carried upon the belts 4,'and the grippers 38 carried upon the belts 6, 6. These grippers are preferably all alike. In number. I prefer to have two on each belt 6 for the reasons previously described, and five on each belt 4. but it is of course to be understood th t the number may be varied. as is desired. These grippers are illustrated best in Figs. 7, 8 and 9. Each gripper comprises a frame 39. which is combined with a block 14. The frame is bolted through the belt, to a bar 40,

* on the outside of the belt, the rest of the gripper, except the ends of the fingers. being on the inside of the belt. On each side of the frame 39 is pivoted abell crank lever 41, having an extension beyond the pivot forming the gripping finger 42. Each finger ends a in a lip, which comes into engagement with the bar 40. and grips the sheet between the two. The bell crank lever 41 ends in a roller 43. Between the roller and the pivot of the lever is a pin 44. A rod 45 with a forked head 46, which engages with the pin, slides in a bearing 47. A spring 48 surrounds the rod 45. and exerts pressure upon the head 46, in the direction away from the bearing 47, and in the direction to force the finger 42 into contact with the bar 40. This mechanism is duplicated upon the two ends of the frame 39. The grippers are caused to grip and release the sheet at the proper moment by mea s of the mechanism best shown in Fig. 4. The mechanism for causing the grippers on the belts 4 to open and close upon the sheet as it is released by the grippers 7 on the transfer cylinder is controlledby means of a cam 49. This cam has a high part 50 and a low part 51. The cam is so mounted that it does not rotate. The cam is duplicated on both sides of the pulley 8, and is in such a. position so as to be engaged by the roller 43. .When the roller 43 comes into engagement with the high part of the cam, it will turn the bell crank lever upon its axis. against the tension of the spring, and will m ve the fingers out of contact with the bar. This will be at substantially the point shown in full lines in Fig. 4. As the rollers 43 travel on the cam and come into contact with the low part, the expansive force of the springs will turn the bell crank levers upon their axes, and will draw the fingers toward the bar, ripping thesheet, just as the grippers 7 re case it. The gripper will then be in the Fig. 4. V I

The grippers are caused to release the sheet, at the proper place, by means of a cam 52, adjacent to the pulley 9. This cam, duplicated on both sides of the pulley, is adapted to engage with the, rollers 43, and open the grippers at the proper time. r

The grippers on the belts 6 are caused to operate at the proper time by means of cams 53 on the shaft 18, and earns 54 on the shaft 19. It is to be understood thatthese cams are duplicated on both sides of the'pulleys 16 and 17, and are fixed, 'i. e., thev do not rotate with the shafts or pulleys. The shape of the cams is such that the gi-ippers 37 on the belt 4 will release the sheet, at the moment the grippers 38 on the belt 6 engage it,

position shown in dashed lines in at .the proper place so that it will drop quietly into the pile receiver 5 without forward movement.

The belts being preferably made of light,

' thin sheet metal, for greater flexibility, it is necessary to support the grippers in some a manner, in addition to the belts. To support them when between the pulleys, I employ tracks 55, with flanges, with which projecting lips 56, on the gripper frames, en-' gage. These tracks take the weight of the grippers. To hold the grippers into engagement with the pulleys 8, 9, 16 and 17 against centrifugal strains, I employ cages 57, 57 for the pulleys 8 and 9, and similar cages 58, 58 for the pulleys 16 and 17. T hese cages are connected to and support the tracks 55.

They have flanged edges, with which wheels 59, 59 on the grippers engage. The engagement of these wheels, there being four in number on each gripper, with the cages, will keep the belt properly'seated upon the pulley in spite of the centrifugal stresses exerted upon it, by the sudden change in direction of the comparatively heavy gripper when it comes into contact with the pulley and the action of the cam. The arrangement of the cages 57 on the shafts 11 and 58 on the shaft 18 is clearly shown in Fig. 6. The cams 52 may conveniently be attached to the cages 57, and the cams 53 to the cages 58. It is to be understood that the cams 49 and 54 may be similarly secured to the adjacent cages. These cages may conveniently be supported,

so that they will not rotate, upon bushes in be slid along on each of the shafts.

shown in Fig. 6. To permit the of the hub of the pulley. The

. I provide means for varying or adjusting the spacing of the belts, 4, 4, Land 6, 6, 6.

The pul eys 8, 9, 16 and 17 are adapted to their supporting shafts to accomplish thls purpose. With the pulleys will also be slid the cages a'nclcarriers, to-

gether with the belts and grippers. This sliding of the pulleys is accomplished by 16 means of shafts 60, 61, 62 and 63, adjacent.

to and parallel with the shafts 10,11, 18, 19, see Fig. 2. These shafts are screw-threaded adjacent to the pulleys. One pulley on each "of the shafts 10, 11, 18 and 19 is fixed; in

-1 5 the example illustrated, these are the pulleys on the lower side of Fig. 2.. The other pulleys slide on their supporting shafts toward and away from the fi'xed pulleys. The cages surrounding the sliding pulleys, have 20 arms 64 which carry threaded sleeves or nuts 65, which surround the shafts'60, 61, 62 and 63, and engage with the threads thereon.. The threads opposite the center line of pulleys is half the pitch of the threads 25 opposite the line of pulleys on the extreme top of Fig. 2, so that these latter pulleys are moved along their shafts at twice the speed as the center line'of pulleys; hence the pulleys will always be proportionally spaced 30 upon their shafts, irrespective of the position they occupy on the shafts.

The shafts 60, 61, 62 and 63 are all similarly rotated at the proper speed by means of a chain 66 engaging sprocket wheels 67, The chain is moved to cause rotation of the spur wheels by means of a hand wheel 68 (Fig. 2).

The details of the supports of the cages and pulleys upon the supporting shafts are be slid along the supporting sha t, each is connected to a ke 69, sliding in a slot or groove in the sha t. This key, has a ra sed center part of a width equal to the width ulley is clamped to the key by set screws 0. This allows the pulley to bev slid along the shaft, but at the same time it is compelled to rotate with it.

freely within them; the keys 69 extending within the key-ways to the end of the bushing, so as to close that part of the key-wayv within the bushing. To assist in supporting the cages and tracks and to take the pulleys 16, 16 very close to the pulleys 9, 9,

and thereby get the grippers 38 very close to the grippers 37 at the transfer point. Thearms 64, amociated with the pulleys 9, have hook-plates 75, which pass over the crossbeam 72, and take the weight of the arm and ulleys to The cages are supported upon 50 bushings 71, which allow the shaft to turn uuasu cage. The arm 64, associated with the polley 16, has a T head 74, which engages with top and bottom flanged plates on the corresponding cross-bar 73.

Fig. 10 shows how the nuts 65, associated with the hook plates 73, are connected to about the center of the latter, while the nuts associated with the T heads 74 are connected to one of the arms, the particular arm being the one farther away from the adjacent pulley 9. This produces a very compact structure, the belts 4, 4, 4 and 6, 6, 6 being very nearly on a line.

he operation of the entire machine will be obvious from the foregoing description.

It is, of course, to be understood that the proportion of the parts may be varied, and that the number of belts and of grippers shown in the drawings are chosen simply forillustration.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have described the principle of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof; but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is merely illustrative and that the invention may be carried out in other ways.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is Y 1. A delivery mechanism for printing presses, having in combination with the transfer cylinder, and receiver; of a series of continuously moving belts one of said series having a variable speed; grippers on the belts, for carrying the sheet upon the belts, said belts having a variable speed;

and means for depositlng the. sheet within transfer cylinder and receiver, a series of continuously moving belts, one of said series havmg a constant speed 1n one direction, and one of sa1d serles havmg a variable speed.

4. A delivery mechanism for printing presses having in combination with the transfer cylinder and receiver, a series of continuously moving belts, one of said series having a constant speed in one direction, and one of said series having a variable speed'in the opposite direction.

5. A delivery mechanism for printing presses, having in combination with the transfer cylinder, and receiver; a set of belts; grippers on the belts for carrying a sheet upon the belts; a second set of belts,

rotating in the opposite direction and having a variable speed; and grippers on these belts to receive the sheet and transfer it to the receiver.

, 6. A delivery mechanism for printing presses, having in combination with the transfer cylinder, and receiver; of a set of belts, associated with the transfer cylinder; grippers on the belts, to carry the sheet above the belts; a second set of belts; grippresses, having a transfer belt; a pulley for supporting the belt, in combination with grippers on the belt; cages inclosing the pulleys; rollers on the grippers for compelling the grippers to engage with the pulleys; tracks connecting the cages, and lips on the grippers engaging the tracks for supportmg the grippers between the pulleys.

8. A delivery mechanism for printing presses, having a plurality of transfer belts arranged to support a sheet at its edges and intermediate its edges; pulleys for supporting the belts; and shafts for supporting the pulleys, in combination with means for varymg the spacing of the pulleys, such means spacing the pulleys in such a manner as to preserve the relative distance between the pulleys.

9. A delivery mechanism for printing presses, having a plurality of transfer belts arranged to support a sheet at and also intermediate its edges; ulleys for supporting the belts; and shafts or supportin the pulleys, the intermediate pulleys and t ose supporting one edge belt being slidable on the shafts; a shaft associated with each pulley shaft; threads on the second shaft ad acent to each slidable pulley; a nut on the shaft at the threaded portion; and connections between the nut and the pulley, the threads adjacent to one pulley being of different pitch from those opposite another, so that the pulleys will occupy the same relative positions irrespective of their positions on the shafts.

10. A delivery mechanism for printing presses having a frame, a printing mechanism at one end of the frame, a pile receiver adjacent to the opposite end of the frame, a continuously movlng, two part, variable speed transfer mechanism extending across the top of the frame from the printing mechanism to the receiver, grippers carried by the transfer mechanism, and means, other than the grippers, for supporting the sheets during transferring.

11. A dellvery mechanism for printing presses the combination with a transfer cyllnder, and a receiver, of a series of continuously moving belts, grippers on the belts,

means whereby printed sheets are supported 1 on the belts with their printed sides turned away from the belts, a series of continuously moving, variable speed belts and means whereby the sheets are delivered to the receiver at *a speed slower than the speed of the first named belts.

12. A gripper comprising a frame, rollers on the frame, lips extending from the frame, a plurality of bell crank levers fulcrumed in the frame, a gripping finger carried by each lever, a rod pivoted to each lever, a spring carried by the rod andacting to move the lever in one direction, a roller carried by each lever, and a cam for engaging each roller to move the levers in the other direction.

This specification signed and witnessed this 18th day of April, 1913.

WARD B. STORY. Witnesses:

Jonx L. Lo'rscn, Geo. J. Hanson. 

